“What do you mean?” Chen Junnan keenly sensed there was something behind Little Cheng’s words. “What difference does where he slept make?”
“Ah, nothing…” Little Cheng looked at Qi Xia somewhat apprehensively, then shook his head. “It’s nothing.”
“You know what’s going on…?” Tiantian asked puzzledly.
“I…” Little Cheng looked like he wanted to speak but held back, as if he also had a head full of questions awaiting answers.
“To tell the truth… I think I’ve seen Qi Ge in this state before, but I can’t be completely certain.” Little Cheng said with a serious expression. “I won’t hide it—I’ve also… harmed someone to this extent before.”
“‘Harmed’… what does that mean?” Chen Junnan didn’t quite understand. “Are you fucking dealing drugs, kid?”
“No, no, no…” Little Cheng hurriedly shook his head. “Chen Ge, what you’re saying is too frightening. It has nothing to do with that. Speaking of it, it does have something to do with my ‘Echo’…”
“I haven’t asked yet…” Chen Junnan said. “Just now outside there was a sound of bells. Was that your ‘Echo’?”
“Yes, my ability is called ‘Entering Dreams.’ It’s actually a rather useless ability…” Little Cheng shook his head in frustration. “Most of the time I can control someone’s dreams in advance, making them dream as much as possible about things they want to dream about…”
“‘Most of the time’?” Chen Junnan frowned. “What about the rest of the time?”
“I…” Little Cheng looked like it was difficult to speak. His eyes flickered evasively for a while before he said, “Once, an uncle in the same room with me kept targeting me. I had a premonition he wanted to kill me, so when sleeping at night… I ‘invaded’ his dreamscape.”
“Invaded…?”
This word made everyone feel somewhat novel. A person’s “dreamscape” could actually be “invaded”?
“Damn…” Chen Junnan cursed somewhat incredulously. “A dream-eating tapir?”
Tiantian also nodded beside them: “It’s a bit like a science fiction movie…”
“What do you mean?”
“Everyone has ‘psychological defenses.'” Little Cheng said. “And to everyone’s dream world, I’m an outsider. Everything in the dreamscape will reject my existence. My ability to influence the dreamscape is also very limited—I can’t even pull up a single blade of grass from the ground.”
“That’s really quite novel…” Chen Junnan scratched his head. “Then what’s the use of your ‘invasion’?”
“That day… in that uncle’s dreamscape, I exhausted all my strength and ground my hands until they were covered in blood before finally causing a single blade of grass on the ground to show a crack…”
When Little Cheng said this, his expression was obviously unnatural, as if he might be concealing something.
“You went into that person’s dream to pull weeds?” Chen Junnan asked.
“It’s not that simple…” Little Cheng said. “After he woke up, he presented a state similar to Qi Ge’s. But he didn’t lose consciousness—he was just constantly muddled and dazed, and ultimately died in a game. It was like some kind of ‘rejection reaction’ appeared in his body.”
After hearing Little Cheng’s words, everyone fell into silence.
After a long while, Tiantian finally spoke: “So you did something to Qi Xia…”
“No, no, no…” Little Cheng hurriedly waved his hands. “Brothers and sisters, please don’t misunderstand. I didn’t know Qi Ge at all before. I’m just saying this state is very similar to the state I caused before… but I’m not saying that Qi Ge’s condition was caused by me…”
“It definitely wasn’t him.” Qiao Jiajin also nodded. “If this handsome guy really made the Liar Guy like this… why would he speak up about it?”
“That’s right.”
“So what…?” Chen Junnan frowned and asked. “Young man, can you confirm whether Old Qi’s current state is because his ‘dreamscape’ has been invaded?”
“I can’t say for sure.” Little Cheng answered with a serious expression. “I’m just saying it feels very similar, but I can’t be completely certain. After all, I’m the one with ‘Entering Dreams’—other people shouldn’t be able to cause this kind of state…”
After hearing this, everyone looked at each other. After thinking for a while, Chen Junnan also spoke.
“Little Chen, why don’t you go take a look?”
“I… my surname is Cheng…” Little Cheng said somewhat awkwardly.
“Hey, I thought we were from the same clan.” Chen Junnan patted Little Cheng’s shoulder. “Little Cheng, you have this ability, so why not take advantage of the fact that Old Qi is dreaming right now and go in to take a look? If there are any blades of grass that have been pulled up, you can plant them back.”
“This…” Little Cheng looked somewhat troubled.
But Qiao Jiajin on the side felt this approach was inappropriate.
“Junnan Guy…” He reached out to pull Chen Junnan aside, bringing him to the side to speak quietly. “To tell the truth, we don’t really understand this handsome guy. Moreover, this handsome guy also said that ‘invading’ dreamscapes might cause trauma to the other party’s mental state. That being the case, should we let him go into Liar Guy’s dream?”
“What’s there to fear?” Chen Junnan gave a wicked smile as he looked at Little Cheng. “Aren’t the two of us still sitting here keeping watch? Can he directly kill Old Qi or what?”
Chen Junnan’s words carried a trace of joking but were mixed with several parts threat.
“Everyone… you might think I’m a bit heartless.” Little Cheng said in a low voice. “But I’m really too exhausted today. I truly have no way to enter Qi Ge’s dreamscape… Perhaps we can try other methods…?”
At this time, Zheng Yingxiong, who had already stopped his nosebleed, removed the cloth scraps blocking his nose. His pale face showed his nose twitching slightly, then he slowly spoke: “But brother, you’re afraid.”
Little Cheng froze, then turned to look at Zheng Yingxiong.
“Brother, I smell the scent of ‘fear’ on you.” Zheng Yingxiong said.
Hearing Zheng Yingxiong’s words, everyone turned their heads to look at Little Cheng again. He still made people feel very suspicious. If everything he said was true, then why would he be afraid?
“I…” Little Cheng sighed slightly and said, “Ah, alright. At this point, I don’t have anything to hide anymore… Ever since I knew I had the ability to destroy others’ mental state, I’ve tried several times to actively ‘kill people.’ But my ‘Entering Dreams’ has a huge drawback…”
“What drawback?” Chen Junnan asked.
“If I encounter misfortune in the dreamscape, I in reality will die directly.” Little Cheng answered. “If Qi Ge is currently having a nightmare, there’s a possibility I’ll be directly implicated. This is also why I rarely actively use this ability later on.”
Seeing that everyone didn’t quite understand, Little Cheng explained further: “His psychological defenses are like ‘white blood cells’ in the body—they will devour all invading ‘viruses.’ I have a probability of being devoured by him. Once I’m devoured, I will immediately lose all vitality in the real world.”
Only now did everyone understand how pure Little Cheng’s “fear” was—he was afraid of death.
As long as he chose to enter Qi Xia’s dreamscape, there was a possibility he would be killed by his dreamscape.
“I see…” Chen Junnan lowered his head and pondered for a while before slowly speaking. “If that’s the case, then forget it. I suspect Old Qi’s psychological defenses are extremely strong. Even if the five of us went in as a team, we might not necessarily come out… This matter itself wasn’t caused by you either, so there’s no need to risk your life.”
Tiantian and Qiao Jiajin also sighed repeatedly on the side. Everyone naturally knew Qi Xia’s capabilities. From what they’d seen, Qi Xia had been walking through the “Land of the End” for so long without truly losing to any “Zodiac” even once. His psychological defenses far exceeded ordinary people. If Little Cheng went in with his psychological level, it would undoubtedly be suicide.
Just as several people were hesitating, Earth-Monkey in the distance seemed to have discovered something as well. He slowly stood up and walked toward everyone.